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Thread: Jose Malena (62) was cooked to death in an oven at the Bumble Bee Foods plant

  1. #1
    Moderator puzzld's Avatar
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    Jose Malena (62) was cooked to death in an oven at the Bumble Bee Foods plant

    California workplace safety officials are investigating how a worker at a Bumble Bee Foods seafood plant wound up being cooked to death in an industrial oven.

    The accident happened Thursday morning at the Bumble Bee Foods factory in Santa Fe Springs, Calif., KTLA.com reported.

    Police and fire personnel, responding to a 911 call from the business, found a worker dead inside a cooking device called a "steamer machine," according to KTLA.

    The victim was identified as Jose Malena, 62, an employee at the factory for more than six years.

    An initial investigation indicated that Malena "was fatally injured when he was cooked in an oven," California Division of Occupational Safety and Health spokeswoman Erika Monterroza told the Whittier Daily News.

    Cal-OSHA is trying to determine how the man wound up in the oven and whether there were any workplace safety regulatory violations.

    Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com

    "The entire Bumble Bee Foods family is saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Malena family," Bumble Bee Foods spokesman Pat Menke said in a statement to KTLA.

    Operations at the plant were suspended until Monday.
    http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012...alifornia?lite

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    Captain of Fuckery captainjillian's Avatar
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    This has got to be one of the worst deaths ever. EVER.


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    Man, I know I am horrible but I can't help to think of the lawyer that gets this wrongful death suit. Assuming that California recognizes res ipsa loquitur. My state doesn't recognize the legal theory that allows a jury to assume that because of the type of injury, that someone must of been negligent. But anyway, I know you guys don't care about that lol.

    RIP Jose, that is really a horrible way to go.

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    Senior Member blu's Avatar
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    What does a steamer machine look like? Anyone know? Is this something that you can fall in or would you have to climb into it?

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    Member FamousLastWords's Avatar
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    ^That's what a steamer machine is according to this,
    http://thecount.com/2012/10/13/bumbl...de-plant-oven/

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    Senior Member CanaryDiam's Avatar
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    Senior Member CanaryDiam's Avatar
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    I have a hard time understanding with the looks of the steamer how this could have been accidental... unless he tripped and fell partially into the thing and it cooks you within seconds?

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    has supermodel tits neenerneener's Avatar
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    this sounds like a murder to me.

    RIP Jose. :(
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    Moderator puzzld's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by neenerneener View Post
    this sounds like a murder to me.

    RIP Jose. :(
    Either that, or he picked the worst place ever to take a nap, or have a heart attack or something.
    Quote Originally Posted by bowieluva View Post
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    Senior Member blu's Avatar
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    What kind of foods does Bumble Bee make? I'll be sure not to eat anything that came from there for a while.

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    Moderator puzzld's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bowieluva View Post
    lol at Nestle being some vicious smiter, she's the nicest person on this site besides probably puzzld. Or at least the last person to resort to smiting.
    Quote Originally Posted by nestlequikie View Post
    Why on earth would I smite you when I can ban you?

  12. #12
    Senior Member blu's Avatar
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    Good. I dont eat that anyway. Anything else?

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    Senior Member RemmyRuger's Avatar
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    Maybe it was a suicide? If not I call murder!

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    Senior Member Catfish's Avatar
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    Something smells fishy here and I don't think it's just the tuna! He would have to have been pretty far up inside it to be "cooked to death" right?

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    Senior Member Catfish's Avatar
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    Oops didn't realize I was bumping an old thread. In any case, any new info here?

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    Administrator Olivia's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Catfish View Post
    Oops didn't realize I was bumping an old thread. In any case, any new info here?
    No. But your name is appropriate.

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    Senior Member Catfish's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Olivia View Post
    No. But your name is appropriate.
    Yuck, touche. Didn't think about that!

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    Senior Member blu's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Catfish View Post
    Something smells fishy here and I don't think it's just the tuna! He would have to have been pretty far up inside it to be "cooked to death" right?

    This post made me think of a uterus for some reason.....

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    Senior Member Catfish's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by blu View Post
    This post made me think of a uterus for some reason.....
    Haha! Sorry!

  20. #20
    Administrator Olivia's Avatar
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    UPDATE - http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...,1286632.story

    Bumble Bee Foods has been fined nearly $74,000 and cited for six safety violations after an employee was cooked to death after being trapped in an industrial pressure cooker.

    The citations come seven months after state regulators began investigating the accidental death of Jose Melena, 62, of Wilmington. The father of six had been employed with the company for five years.

    According to a 25-page report by the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Melena was responsible for loading the 54-inch by 36-foot ovens with 12 rolling metal baskets full of tuna cans. The ovens are used to sterilize aluminum cans and to process the tuna in the cans.

    At the start of his 4 a.m. shift on Oct. 11, 2012, Melena was ordered by his supervisor to load one particular oven. Sometime before 5 a.m., according to the report, Melena entered the oven to make a repair or to adjust a chain inside the machine, leaving the pallet jack he was using outside the oven.

    At that time, a second employee noticed the unused pallet jacket. Assuming Melena was in the bathroom, the second employee took the machine and loaded the oven with the baskets.

    “Around the same time, the supervisor questioned why the employee was using the pallet jack and began asking employees if they had seen" Melena, the report said.

    The report states an announcement was made on the intercom. Workers also began looking for Melena. They discovered that his vehicle was still in the parking lot. After searching for nearly an hour and a half, the boiler operator suggested that they open the last oven that was loaded.

    The workers waited about 30 minutes for the oven to cool down before they could open it. Melena's body was eventually found at the exit side of the oven. Firefighters pronounced him dead at the scene.

    The Santa Fe Springs tuna company was issued "serious" citations for failing to evaluate and identify the 10 ovens in the production area as hazardous and permit-required spaces.

    State officials also faulted the company for not informing workers about the areas with "danger" signs or implementing a program to address safety precautions while working inside the large ovens, as required by law.

    "We will be reviewing the citations with Cal/OSHA representatives in the coming weeks to resolve any disagreements regarding the citations," company officials said in a statement.

    "Safety is a top priority; we are cooperating fully with authorities, including Cal/OSHA, and have reviewed all safety procedures with plant employees and stressed the importance of following procedures to maximize employee safety. "

  21. #21
    Scoopski Potatoes Nic B's Avatar
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    So his coworker started loading the machine that the guy was in, without knowing? Didn't the guy yell or anything? I'm having a hard time picturing this, what's a pellet jack?


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    Senior Member alyoop's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nic B View Post
    So his coworker started loading the machine that the guy was in, without knowing? Didn't the guy yell or anything? I'm having a hard time picturing this, what's a pellet jack?
    its like a forklift. sort of. it moves pallets (pretty easily and less big than a forklift), that are under freight, wooden planks made into a square.

  23. #23
    Moderator puzzld's Avatar
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    Pallet Jack



    Pallets of stuff

    The pallet jack is used to move pallets...
    Quote Originally Posted by bowieluva View Post
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    Quote Originally Posted by CanaryDiam View Post
    I have a hard time understanding with the looks of the steamer how this could have been accidental... unless he tripped and fell partially into the thing and it cooks you within seconds?
    Usually when these types of incidents happen it's because the worker who is caught in the steamer is usually working in the back of one adjusting the racks and because he's so far into the machine those on the outside don't see him.

    And along comes another worker who sees the trays are in the machine and can't see the worker in the back so he or she shuts the door, which turns on the machine and it begins to steam.

    The worker who's inside quickly realizes the machine is on, but cannot open the door from the inside and nobody can hear him.

    The worker inside the machine should have used the accident prevention tools available to him, like locking and tagging the controls before he entered the machine. And the worker who shut the door should have done a safety check to ensure nobody was inside before they closed it.

    Still, it's a horrible death. I wonder what was going through that mans head when he realized he cannot get out and nobodies going to save him.

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    Moderator puzzld's Avatar
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    Bumble Bee Foods and two managers were charged by Los Angeles prosecutors Monday with violating safety regulations in the death of a worker who was cooked in an industrial oven with tons of tuna.

    Jose Melena was performing maintenance in a 35-foot-long oven at the company's Santa Fe Springs plant before dawn Oct. 11, 2012, when a co-worker, who mistakenly believed Melena was in the bathroom, filled the pressure cooker with 12,000 pounds of canned tuna and it was turned on.

    When a supervisor noticed Melena, 62, was missing, an announcement was made on the intercom and employees searched for him in the facility and parking lot, according to a report by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health. His body was found two hours later after the pressure cooker, which reached a temperature of 270 degrees, was turned off and opened.

    The company, its plant Operations Director Angel Rodriguez and former safety manager Saul Florez were each charged with three counts of violating Occupational Safety & Health Administration rules that caused a death.

    The charges specify that the company and the two men willfully violated rules that require implementing a safety plan, rules for workers entering confined spaces, and a procedure to keep machinery or equipment turned off if someone's working on it.

    Rodriguez, 63, of Riverside, and Florez, 42, of Whittier, could face up to three years in prison and fines up to $250,000 if convicted of all charges, prosecutors said. Bumble Bee Foods faces a maximum fine of $1.5 million.

    The state's occupational safety agency previously cited the San Diego-based company for failing to properly assess the danger to employees working in large ovens and fined it $74,000.

    Bumble Bee, which has appealed the penalties, said the company improved its safety program after the tragedy.

    "We remain devastated by the loss of our colleague Jose Melena in the tragic accident," the company said in a statement. "We disagree with and are disappointed by the charges filed by the Los Angeles district attorney's office."

    Florez refused to comment, and messages seeking comment from Rodriguez were not immediately returned.

    District Attorney Jackie Lacey said prosecutors and investigators from her office have been going to major industrial accidents to ensure illegal and deadly work practices are prosecuted.

    Prosecutions of workplace violations are uncommon - even in fatalities.

    The state cited nearly 15,000 workplace violations in 2013, according to the state agency. Of 189 fatality investigations opened that year, the state only referred 29 to prosecutors.

    District attorneys only filed charges in 14 cases that year, though some of those charges could have been for cases referred in earlier years. They could have brought charges subsequently for cases filed in 2013.
    http://7online.com/news/bumble-bee-e...h-tuna/685076/
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